Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson, San Jose Sharks left wing Patrick Marleau and Buffalo Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek have been named the NHL's "Three Stars" for the month of January.
From NHL:
Vanek led all skaters with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in six contests, buoyed by a pair of five-point games. The Vienna, Austria, native opened the season with two goals and three assists in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Jan. 20 and closed the month with his eighth career hat trick and two helpers in a 7-4 triumph at the Boston Bruins Jan. 31.
Vanek is the first NHL player to score five or more points twice in his team's first seven games of a season since Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux in 1992-93. Vanek also is the first Sabre with at least two five-point games in one season since 1992-93, when Pat LaFontaine had six such outings and Alexander Mogilny had three.
Now in his eighth NHL season, the 29-year-old has 236-226—462 in 553 career games.
Vanek played 11 games for his hometowm Graz 99ers in Austria during the lockout, where he scored five goals and added 10 assists. Vanek told me that going home to Austria was a dream come true for him. He left Graz at age 14 to move to Edmonton, Alberta to pursue the NHL dream that he is living right now.
Remarkable journey!
If I'm Lindy Ruff, I'm calling Tyler Myers into the coach's room, closing the door, and asking Tyler Myers what the H-E-double hockey sticks is going on with his game. Myers has been a huge disappointment in the first seven games this season. He looks lost in his own end and he hasn't been a physical force in his own end. I shake my head in horror when I watch this Marchand goal from Thursday night. Myers is a foot taller and weights 60 pounds more then Marchand, yet, the Bruins agitator blew straight off the wall and around Myers.
Where is the fire? The passion? The finish? The pride? Where are the fundamentals?
Myers' high stick on former Sabre Dan Paille earned him a double minor at the worst possible moment of the Bruins game. Up a goal, with time left in regulation, Myers carelessly clipped Paille and was banished to the bin. Luckily, Seidenberg took a minor of his own to negate the Myers double-double of trouble.
The former Calder Award winner has one point in seven games, and he's a minus player. He's only shot the puck six times at enemy goalies. He's slow on the back check, sloppy with the puck, and isn't playing with a lot of confidence right now.
Myers is four years into his NHL career, yet, he looks like a first year pro. At times, Mikhail Grigorenko looks more composed and prepared for games than Myers is.
Were I Ruff, I'd send Myers to Suite 150 for a one game mentoring session. Press row is 150 feet above the ice and the game looks so much easier to all who visit Suite 150.
Jordan Leopold has been playing alongside Myers for the past few games, and he's been no better in terms of his performance in his own end. Leopold was smoked by Matt Fratting on the OT GWG with 1 second remaining against the leafs on Tuesday night. He is -4 in seven games, and was brutal at times vs. Boston.
The Bruins have announced that winger Shawn Thornton has been diagnosed with a concussion. He will miss 7-10 days. Thornton took quite a beating from Sabres tower of power, John Scott. Stick tap Thornton for challenging a heavyweight brawler like Scott.
thanks, hockey-fights.com
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The Sabres will practice at 11:30am inside Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Check back after the practice for more Sabres news and reaction from the players and coaches about last night’s thrilling win in Boston.
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The Sabres out-Bostoned the Bruins on Thursday night.
Today, the Bruins are feeling the ill-effects of a Lindy Ruff-inspired heavy hockey game with the re-purposed Buffalo Sabres.
The Sabres flipped the scripts on the Bruins as they buckled up their helmets, popped in their mouth pieces and proceeded to hack, whack, slash, punch, elbow and claw their way to the 7-4 victory in a hostile environment.
The Bruins suffered some casualties in the war with Buffalo. Most notably the loss of Shawn Thornton, who to his credit, road an aggressive brahma bull, and ended up getting tossed off, and injured. Thornton didn’t return to the game after he left the sin bin after his first period fight with big John Scott. Thornton will be re-evaluated today. Before Thursady’s game, Boston media swarmed to Scott and Ott to get their takes on the Boston-Buffalo rivalry, and to their opinions on the Lucic-Miller collision from fifteen months ago.
Scott didn’t sugar-coat his answer:
“Regardless of the outcome (Thursday night), I just want to be there for my teammates and let them know I’m here to fight, I’ve got your back. Last year’s not going to happen like this year.”
Former Sabre, Dan Paille, didn’t return after he was shaved by a Tyler Myers high stick, late in the third period of the 7-4 Buffalo win. Myers was given a four minute double minor for his careless use of his stick, however, veteran Bruins D Dennis Seidenberg did the Sabres a huge favor be taking a minor of his own to negate the four minute power play. Talk about the turning point in the game.
Patrice Bergeron took a nasty tumble into the wall and was looked after in the Boston room. He would return to the game. Former Niagara Ice Dogs star, and 19 year old D phenom, Dougie Hamilton was dazed when eat received a Drew Stafford elbow to the head. He, too went to the Boston room for repairs.
The Bruins head to Toronto for their HNIC game against the Maple Leafs with some limping soldiers.
They have called up AHL forward Jamie Tardif from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. Tardif will be an insurance policy if Thornton or Paille cannot play on Saturday.
Patrice Bergeron (crash into the boards) and Dougie Hamilton (elbow to the face from Drew Stafford) both left the ice briefly for repairs in the dressing room for separate incidents, but were okay to finish the game.
“We’re banged up like any other game would be, and we’re going to reassess everything,” Claude Julien said in his post game presser.
“You saw guys leave and guys come back, so we’re going to check everything out. Same thing with Dan (Paille), we’re hoping that he’s going to be okay.”
The Bruins captain was near invisible on Thirsday night. Chara was ordinary vs. Buffalo. When the 7-4 loss was over, Chara finished with a -3. He threw zero hits. He turned the puck over three times.
After the game, an exasperated Claude Julien told the media that he and his team were not ready for the type of lake effect scoring squall that Buffalo dumped on Boston.
“I didn’t expect this because it wasn’t our type of game. When you look at the way we played.. the sloppiness of guys left by themselves around our net, the puck watching all over the place.. it was really disappointing. Our guys defensively were just totally, totally out of it. We were told before the game to have our head on a swivel and that they really activate a lot in the offensive zone. Defensively, I guess you would say our guys (were) brain dead.”
Thanks, bruins.nhl.com
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Tuuka Rask wasn’t thrilled with getting snow plowed by the Sabres. Can’t say I blame him.
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